Four of the hundreds of mortgage customers who fell victim to the collapse of Personal Financial Management Inc. faced off Monday against seven bankers in a two-hour hearing called by U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter.

As 300 other victims watched at Penn State’s Harrisburg campus, the four testified they are out tens of thousands of dollars each because of the admitted fraud by Wesley A. Snyder, owner of the Exeter Township company.

Michelle Weaver and Janet Sudor, both of Lancaster; Roger Hess of New Holland; and James Moyer of Bethlehem all said they can’t make mortgage payments that have risen as much as 62 percent after the collapse.

Some have put off retirement and dipped into their children’s college funds to keep up. Sudor said she’s gotten delinquency notices from her bank although she’s paid everything required.

The bankers claimed they are doing everything possible to help, but most of that help is required by a court-approved agreement coming from one of four lawsuits in the case.

However, none of the bankers promised to cut the amounts they claim the borrowers owe or to credit borrowers for any money that was paid to Snyder but never made it to the banks.

Snyder has admitted that $26 million paid by customers never got to the banks.

Specter declared those issues off-limits because they are the subject of a civil suit; the Republican’s hearing was to see what federal legislators and regulators could do.

"I’m not sure what we could do legislatively to help these poor victims, other than lean on the banks to show some compassion," said U.S. Rep. Tim Holden, a Schuylkill County Democrat who represents part of Berks.

Holden was joined at the hearing by U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, a fellow Democrat. Both urged the banks to do more than follow the agreement.

Officials of several of the banks said they’d likely extend that agreement by months.

When Personal Financial Management filed for bankruptcy in mid-September, 811 customers discovered that their mortgages were not with Snyder’s company but with 27 outside banks, and that the amounts and the interest rates were higher than they were promised.

The banks have threatened to foreclose if they don’t get full payment.